truth melts magic, always
by talcumpowder
Summary: When Gabriella Montez meets Troy Bolton, she unknowingly sets off a chain of events that rocks the foundations of East High. Why? Because Gabriella is a unicorn, and everyone knows that those don't exist. Basically, HSM1 with unicorns.


**Fandom/Pairings:** High School Musical; Troy/Gabriella, although it's mostly Gabriella gen.  
**Rating:** PG. There's _unicorns_, seriously.  
**Pre-Notes: **This spawned from the slow progression of watching The Last Unicorn and thinking the following: "lol, Ryan could never touch a unicorn . . . dude! Gabriella is a unicorn! Oh my god I have to write this."  
**Disclaimer:** No. Not even close.  
**Summary:** When Gabriella Montez meets Troy Bolton, she unknowingly sets off a chain of events that rocks the foundations of East High. Why? Because Gabriella is a unicorn, and everyone knows that those don't exist.

* * *

**truth melts magic, always**  
Or:_ The One where Gabriella is a Unicorn_

Gabriella has never thought very hard about it. She attracts attention and her mom warns her not to get too close to people because, well. They move around a lot and it's not very . . . Gabriella isn't very good at making friends anyway. She used to be okay with people touching her, but now? Now she kind of hates it. It's as if she can feel the filth of the person touching her. As if she can feel herself dying. She cries a lot, cries because she can feel herself dying and she can feel the world around her dying. Something is _wrong_ and her mother is plainly not going to tell her much of anything.

Her mother tries insisting that they're okay—that they're normal. She takes Gabriella to the lodge for New Year's before Gabriella is supposed to move to her new school. There had been an . . . Incident was the only word for it, really. There had been an incident at her previous school and she hadn't meant to jerk away from the boy and fall to the floor in a sobbing mess but he had killed animals—took joy in killing them—and where he touched her, it almost burned. The knowledge of what he had done burned her and she hadn't been able to take it because how did she know that? How had she figured that out? It was all so confusing and she hated it a lot so even though her mom has been trying so hard to get her to go outside, she hasn't been able to yet. There are too many people and it makes her nervous.

Her mother wouldn't hear it, though, so Gabriella had to go to the New Year's party for teenagers and she had just curled up in a corner to read a book. Her mother had only told her to go to the party and have fun and Gabriella thought that reading books was fun, ergo Gabriella was having fun. Well, she was until someone was shining a spotlight on her and calling her up to do karaoke. Part of Gabriella just wanted to ignore what was going on, but she knew that someone would only drag her up to the stage and she didn't know if she could handle someone touching her so she just put her book back in her bag and hopped onto the stage, curling her arms around herself as protection from all the people now staring at her.

There's a boy on stage with her and he looks just as uncomfortable as her, so Gabriella feels a little bit better about her posture. Then, the karaoke machine gets cued up and the boy starts singing.

"_Living in my own world, didn't understand that anything can happen—when you take a chance._"

After he finishes his verse, he starts to leave and Gabriella's a little sad at that, but her verse has just shown up on the screen and she starts singing—praying she doesn't faint like the last time she sang in front of a crowd.

"_I never believed in what I couldn't see. I never opened my heart—_"

Out of the corner of her eye, Gabriella can see that the boy has come back and he adds a cute little "oh" in. She hasn't fainted yet, at any rate, she Gabriella counts that as a plus.

"_To all the possibilities, oh_ . . ."  
They both harmonize on the next line: "_I know_"  
Privately, Gabriella thinks they sound pretty good together as she sings, "_That something has changed_."

They're actually relaxing a little and as long as Gabriella doesn't look at all the people surrounding her, she feels okay. Better than okay, actually, because she feels as light as air—even though she knows that's impossible. Pretty soon, they're dancing around each other and Gabriella truly is having fun in the way she suspects her mother intended. The song is over before she has a chance to comprehend what's going on and then they stumbling off stage, giggling like children and going outside to watch the fireworks.

They exchange names and numbers, but just before midnight Gabriella disappears back into her room, picking up her neglected book. Carriages turn back into pumpkins after midnight, after all.

* * *

"I'll be fine, mom."

Her mom holds her face between old, worn hands and presses a kiss to Gabriella's forehead before smiling. They've just finished the tour of the school and it seems okay—not that different from any of the other schools she's been to. The people aren't different either, just overly-curious faces that all want to know her story. Her homeroom even seems okay—just full of the same people she's seen everywhere else.

Jock. Teacher's Pet. Queen Bee. Golden Boy . . . that looked suspiciously like the guy she sang with at the New Year's—her phone started ringing and she scrambled to shut it off, but it was too late. The homeroom teacher—Mrs. Darbus—is coming around and collecting all their cellphones while explaining how cellphones are evil oh and also they all have detention afterschool. The whole class groans, but Gabriella can't help but notice the way that the guy who looks like the guy she sang with is staring back at her, eyes kind of wide. She tries to focus on what her homeroom teacher is saying but it's difficult when all she can think about are blue eyes and winning smiles.

The bell rings. It snaps Gabriella out of her thoughts and she gathers up her things and is walking out of the door when a hand grab her arm. Unlike most touches, though, this one doesn't make her hurt or scream. It's strangely calming, actually, so it's a second before she turns to see who it is. It's the guy. _Troy_, Gabriella thinks.

"Hi," he smiles a little awkwardly, "I'm sorry about the phone thing. So, um, what are you doing here?"  
"I just transferred here," Gabriella says, "I didn't know you'd be here."

They're walking down the hallway when Gabriella spots a sign up sheet for the school musical. She staring at it wistfully when the Queen Bee stalks—there's no other word for it—over and signs her name with a flourish under pairs auditions. It takes up almost the entire space.

"Oh," she says, "you're the new girl, right? Well, feel free to sign up, but know that my brother and I are the Top Dogs here. Toodles!"  
Troy glances at her, "Are you going to sign up?"  
Gabriella shakes her head, "No. I want some time to settle in and catch up on the coursework here."  
"Oh," Troy sounds vaguely disappointed, "we're going to be late for class if we don't hurry up."

_First days_, Gabriella thinks, _are never good_. This one is turning out pretty badly, but then Gabriella glances over at Troy and thinks that maybe it's not so bad after all.

* * *

The new girl is suspicious. Chad glances over at Zeke and subtly jerks his head back toward her. Zeke shakes his head and Chad sighs. The new girl is suspicious, but neither he or Zeke have any idea what she is besides _old_ and _powerful_. And really? That could describe about half of East High—which is sort of the problem with going to a school of mixed humans and . . . Creatures. There wasn't really an overarching term for what the more magical half of East High was. There was Kelsi the faerie, Jason the werewolf, Zeke and Chad the wizards . . . And the Evans twins, the incubus and succubus pair. Chad was pretty sure there were other people who were not quite human, but he didn't know their names.

He's more concerned with not letting Troy fall into Sharpay's hands. The Evans twins have perfected the art of intruding on people's dreams to feed on their energy. Life force. Whatever, the point was that Sharpay literally bleesd boys dry and her brother Ryan isn't that much better. Letting Troy fall into their hands would be a disaster that would destroy the delicate balance of energies—pretty much owing entirely to the fact that Troy was completely pure of heart and totally oblivious to the hidden half of East High. Chad likes to keep it that way—it makes his job as Troy's glorified babysitter easier.

It's usually a pretty cushy and easy job, but sometimes Troy has moments of utter stupidity that make Chad want to bang his head against the wall for an extended period of time. Of course Troy has to befriend what may very well be the oldest and most powerful creature of all the ones at East High. There's a faint undercurrent to the new girl that screams _UNICORN_ to him, but that's pretty much impossible. There are no unicorns anymore—his parents had explained this to him once he came of age and needed to have his powers explained to him. He would encounter faeries and werewolves and vampires and demons and other creatures the likes of which he could only dream of—but he would never encounter a unicorn, for the last of the unicorns had died out a very, very long time ago.

Still, the girl gives off the sort of fierce pride that's consistent with unicorns and she seems to shy away from people—in addition to being mysteriously beautiful. Chad sighs and rubs at his temples. Some days, he wonders why he let his parents talk him into protecting Troy. Then again, they hadn't ever told him that he'd be fending off vampires and soul-sucking demons on a regular basis. They had just been like "all you have to do is protect your best friend—that sounds fun, doesn't it?" and of course Chad was totally on board with that plan. It sounded _awesome_.

Except, as Chad has learned since be was first told to protect Troy, his parents are fucking liars and protecting Troy has got to be the worst job on the face of the Earth. At least Zeke understands his pain and slips Chad cookies from his mother, though.

* * *

"They were looking at the callback sheet," Sharpay says as she paces.  
Ryan looks at his sister, "Who were?"  
"Troy and the new girl," Sharpay growls, "I don't like her. I don't like her at_ all_—did you feel her aura? She's _powerful_ and I don't even think she realizes it."  
"You don't think she could be a unicorn—do you, sis?"  
"Don't be silly, Ryan. Unicorns died out a long time ago. No, she's something else," Sharpay stops pacing a slowly smiles, "Perhaps it's time to pay a visit to Kelsi."  
Ryan blinks, "Why are we paying a visit to Kelsi?"  
"Because," Sharpay sighs, "the only things that powerful but female are unicorns, mermaids, and faeries. Since unicorns no longer exist and the new girl's hair is dry, she's probably a faerie. And who do we know that's a faerie, Ryan?"  
"Of course," Ryan smiled, "I'm proud to call you my sister."

Sharpay preens a little before stalking down the hall with a lazy swing in her hips that has all the boys looking at her. Ryan follows in her wake, knowing that while no one looks at him it's him that they'll probably end up seeing in their dreams. Ryan's method of dream-entering is more effective than Sharpay's and his charm stretches farther. He's had to learn how to be that way, how to capture the hearts of girls and boys alike with a severely understated charm that has them in the palm of his hand before they realize what's going on.

Kelsi rolls her eyes about it sometimes, but Ryan knows that it's more at the fact that humans are stupid enough to not realize that they're being manipulated than anything else. Kelsi is of the opinion that the human race is far inferior to faeriekind and Ryan pretty much totally agrees with her—even if the human race had produced such lovely creatures as Chad Danforth. Ryan would love to get into his dreams, but he's a wizard and messing with wizards tended to end messy. Ryan understood that, but Sharpay didn't—which was why she kept trying to go after Troy, even though he was always surrounded by wizards.

Then again, his sister is not the smartest person to begin with.

* * *

Kelsi eyes the Evans twins warily as they saunter into the music room. The two of them always mean trouble and Kelsi isn't very fond of trouble at all. Sharpay walks over to the piano and leans on it, Kelsi frowns. When Sharpay is pretending to be casual about things it's usually a sign that she's about to say something that Kelsi isn't going to like—and since the musical is coming up, Kelsi really just doesn't want to hear it. She's tired of Sharpay trying to make the musical about _her_. She's tired of catering to Sharpay's whims.

"Kelsi," Sharpay smiles, "my dearest little sawed-off Sondheim, what do you know about the new girl?"  
Kelsi blinks, because that wasn't the question she was expecting, "Nothing. She's old and she's powerful but I can't figure out what she is."  
Sharpay's expression darkens, and Kelsi tries not to wince, "Kelsi, may I remind you who holds the real power here at East High? Tell me the truth."  
"That is the truth," Kelsi says defiantly, "she's not a faerie otherwise I'd know that she was coming into my territory and I'm pretty sure she's not some kind of spirit so I have absolutely no idea what she is - only that she's old and powerful."

Sharpay looks like she's going to attack Kelsi for a moment, and Kelsi actually flinches. Ryan catches Sharpay's arm before she can attack though, and whispers something into her ear that makes her frown but put her arm back down and simply glare at Kelsi.

"If you're lying to me," Sharpay snarls, "I won't hesitate to snuff your light. Are you _positive_ she's not a faerie?"  
"Yes," Kelsi looks Sharpay straight in the eye, "but I'd be careful around her anyway, if I were you. She gives off the same energy that unicorns did, back when they roamed plains other than the imaginations of man."

Sharpay frowns, but turns on her heel and stalks out of the room. Ryan smiles apologetically at Kelsi and mouths "sorry" at her before following Sharpay. Kelsi sighs and covers her face with her hand for a moment, because the Evans twins honestly give her a headache.

"We nee to do something about the new girl," Sharpay says.  
Ryan sighs, "I don't think she's a problem, Sharpay."  
"Of course she's a problem," Sharpay snaps.

Personally, Ryan doesn't think that Gabriella, is even the tiniest bit of a problem but his sister is determined and well. There is no stopping Sharpay when she's determined—especially when she's determined and she hasn't been feeding well for whatever reason. Ryan doubts that Sharpay sees the girl as anything but a threat to her energy sources. Sharpay turns abruptly into the computer lab and Ryan trails after her.

Quickly, Sharpay sits at one of the free computers and pulls up the internet. Ryan isn't exactly sure what she's doing, but it doesn't bode well for anyone. Especially not when Sharpay is typing Gabriella's name into google and shifting through the results. There's a few news articles about her passing out at school, which Ryan thinks is odd, but there's far more about the numerous awards Gabriella has won in science and mathematics. Suddenly, Ryan can see the wheels clicking in Sharpay's head as she clicks print and the printer whirrs to life.

"I think that the new girl needs activities appropriate to her skills," Sharpay smiles, "don't you, Ryan?"  
"Sure," Ryan says, "but how do you plan on getting her to sign up if she hasn't already?"  
"Oh," Sharpay laughs, "I think the president of Academic Decathalon would be_ thrilled_ to hear that we have a little Academic Decathalon genius among us."

Sometimes, Ryan isn't entirely sure he wants to be related to his sister.

* * *

When Gabriella gets home, her mom asks how her day went and Gabriella tell her that it was fine and she met some new people and there wasn't really anything new or special about her school that she could tell. Her mom smiles at her and fixes her a cup of tea and tells her to go do her homework - which is something that Gabriella doesn't have to be told, but her mother always does it anyways. Gabriella doesn't mention that her new school feels full of strange, unwelcoming energy or that she feels like she's constantly being watched. It's not really a problem, besides it's not that different from her other schools. Gabriella is used to being "the new kid" that everyone stares at.

The thing that Gabriella really doesn't want to tell her mother, though, is that the boy she met at the New Year's party goes to her school and there's something about him that just makes Gabriella want to sit next to him and hold his hand forever. It's a really strange and awkward feeling, because she's never felt anything like it before. It's not that she doesn't believe in love or that she hasn't ever had crushes on boys before, but more that this feels different - like she's cosmically meant to be with him or something. It's stupid, and Gabriella knows that but she can't help but smile fondly when she thinks about him.

Troy. There's something special about Troy, Gabriella can just tell, and that makes the thought of going back to school and having to deal with the unwelcoming feel of East High and the eyes constantly watching her somehow easier to deal with. She sips her tea and smiles to herself that yes, this year will be a good year - even if she's moved to a new town where she doesn't really know anyone and she probably won't be staying longer than a semester. It'll be a good semester, Gabriella thinks.

Chad drops his bag in the entryway and wanders into the kitchen where his mother is cooking dinner, when he gets home. He kisses her on the cheek before leaning against the countertop and wondering how to ask his mom is maybe, just maybe there could be one last unicorn left in the world. He doesn't think that there isn't a good way to ask such a seemingly stupid question, so he just goes for blunt truth.

"Hey mom?"  
"Yes, Chad?"  
"So this is going to sound crazy," Chad runs a hand through his hair, "but I'm pretty sure that the new girl that just transferred to East High is a unicorn. I know you told me that there aren't any unicorns, because they died out hundreds of years ago, but if there were a unicorn and it was, in fact, at my school . . . Then how would I know that it was a unicorn?"

Chad's mom puts the spoon she's holding down and turns to look at Chad. She's probably checking to see if he's hit his head recently or something, but it slowly dawns on her that Chad is entirely serious and he honestly thinks that a unicorn just transferred into his class. Because honestly? That's about the only explanation Chad can figure out for her.

"Chad," his mom says, "she can't be a unicorn. They don't exists anymore."  
"I know, mom," Chad sighs, "but she's not a faerie or a mermaid, and she's the oldest, most powerful thing in our school at the moment. I don't know of any other female spirits that are old and powerful. Got any ideas?"  
"Are you sure she isn't a mermaid?"  
"Yes. Her hair was totally dry and she smells like wildflowers, not seaweed."  
"Faerie?"  
"Her ears are perfectly round. Besides, she doesn't shimmer."  
"Selkie?"  
"No, her eyes are too human for that. Besides, she's too powerful to be a selkie."  
"Succubus?"  
"No, her energy is totally pure—I know how to find a succubus by energy signature, mom. I'm not stupid—besides, her energies almost cancel out Sharpay's. Wouldn't that make her completely ineligible?"  
"It would. Hmm . . . Go do your homework, Chad. I'll have to talk with your father about this."

There is a moment where Chad is going to open his mouth and protest, but he knows a serious expression on his mom's face when he saw one and the expression she's currently making is definitely serious. It would probably be better to leave his mother alone while she cooked dinner. Besides, he had a lot of homework to do and not very much time to do it in.

* * *

Taylor approaches Gabriella after school, holding a paper in her hands, and Gabriella's heart sinks down into her feet. There's a glint in Taylor's eyes that Gabriella recognizes from other schools, other people, and she doesn't like what's coming next. What's coming next is not something she wants to deal with at the moment.

"Gabriella," Taylor grins, "the answer is yes!"  
Gabriella blinks at Taylor, "The answer to what?"  
"Whether or not you can be on our Academic Decathlon team, of course. We'd be_ honored_ to have you."  
"I didn't ask to be on the team," Gabriella replies.  
"But I found this in my locker," Taylor holds out the piece of paper. It's a news article about Gabriella, "isn't that what you meant by it?"  
"I didn't put that in your locker," Gabriella frowns.  
Taylor looks a little dejected, "Oh."  
"Hey," Gabriella smiles, "I'll come to a couple of meetings and decide if it's a good fit, though."  
"Awesome! We practice every other day after school in the science labs—usually the one you have Chemistry in, because we always meet there even if we go to other locations afterward."  
"Sounds good, I'll drop by later this week."

The look on Taylor's face can't be described as anything but pure joy, and Gabriella feels a little less annoyed about the fact that she gave in but more guilty about the fact that she doesn't want to be on another Academic Decathlon team. They're not cool and they take themselves too seriously, which Gabriella doesn't like. Really, though, she just wants to be a normal girl for once. Just Gabriella, not "Gabriella, the science genius," or "Gabriella, who transferred because she slept with her teacher," or "Gabriella, the one who had a mental breakdown last week."

Gabriella doesn't think that's too much to ask for.

* * *

Troy isn't entirely sure why he shows up to the auditions for the winter musical. It's not like he's going to try out and really? He's not that interested. Except . . . Okay, so he felt the urge to go and he didn't really know why but he didn't _really_ want to be there, so he was sort of hiding behind the janitor's supply cart and attempting to go unnoticed by the population at large.

"Hi," a voice says from behind him (Troy jumps, a little), "I didn't mean to startle you, I'm sorry."

When Troy turns to look, it's Gabriella and he smiles. Whenever he sees her it's like everything fits into place and the world is perfect. She smiles back at him and the girl currently auditioning on stage hits a note that Troy didn't even know existed. He winces at the same time Gabriella does, and they duck into the back row of seats to watch the rest of the auditions.

"Are you going to try out?"  
Troy thinks about it for a second, "Probably not. You?"  
"I don't think so," Gabriella sighs wistfully, "the last time I tried to sing in front of an audience, I fainted."

He almost asks how, because he wants to know everything about this girl, but he doesn't. Instead, he focuses his attention on the stage. The girl currently auditioning isn't that bad, but there have been some pretty horrific things on that stage in the past ten minutes. The world just doesn't look the same after some of the auditions, and it's kind of interesting to watch the process. Troy's not exactly interested in musicals, but there's something about them that kind of makes him want to join in.

"And now," Darbus announces, "for the pairs auditions we have Sharpay and Ryan Evans."

From where he's sitting, Troy can see the pianist (he thinks her name is Kelsi?) ask Sharpay a question. Sharpay snaps at Kelsi and Kelsi frowns before sitting back down at her piano. She doesn't, Troy notices, make a move to play it. It's a little weird, but Troy gets it once the music kicks in and Sharpay and Ryan start performing. They've got their own music and Kelsi looks mildly annoyed with this but Troy doesn't think she's particularly upset. He can't blame her, there's something very mesmerizing about Sharpay and Ryan's movements. Troy knows then that no, he's not auditioning. There just isn't any way he can go up against that.

Mrs. Darbus looks over her glasses at the empty auditorium, "Are there any other pairs auditions? Anyone? Well—"

"I want to audition."

Gabriella stands up suddenly and Troy stares at her for a second. She's full of a confidence that she didn't seem to have a minute ago.

"I'm sorry, Miss Montez, but single auditions are over."  
"I'll sing with her."

Seeing Gabriella makes Troy want to try to be something other than the basketball guy. Be something other than what everyone knows him for.

"I called for auditions," Mrs. Darbus says, "and punctuality is very important in theatre. Maybe the spring musicale?"

There's a little bit of sadness in Gabriella's eyes and Troy kind of wants to sweep her up into a hug, but Mrs. Darbus is walking away and Troy's pretty sure that's inappropriate anyway. He's about to say something to try and comfort her when the pianist trips and falls, sending the papers she was carrying everywhere. Both Troy and Gabriella rush over to help her and she gives them a small, tentative smile.

"Hey," the pianist says suddenly, "do you want to hear the way the duet is supposed to sound?"  
"Sure," Gabriella says.

Quickly, the pianist seats herself at the piano and starts playing. Troy glances at the music she's playing off of and, weirdly, it makes sense to him. On the male singer's cue, Troy sings.

"_It's hard to believe that I couldn't see—you were always there beside me._"

The pianist starts to sing the female part, but Gabriella takes it and it's just like that time they sang karaoke together—there's something magical, electric even, in the air between them.

"_Thought I was alone, with no one to hold._"

They go through the rest of the song and while Troy can see the appeal of the Evans twin's version, he kind of likes this better. It's stripped down to essentials and that's something Troy admires. He's so caught up in his thoughts that he startles when Mrs. Darbus' voice rings out in the auditorium.

"Bolton, Montez! Congratulations you two, you've got yourself a callback. Kelsi, give then the duet from the second act. Work on it with them."

The pianist seems to light up at that news, chattering excitedly about practices and when they're free. Gabriella laughs, clear and pure like bells, and Troy is a little shocked that they've got a callback (whatever that is) but he can handle it if it means that Gabriella keeps laughing like that. Troy thinks he could take on the world if only Gabriella would laugh.

* * *

Sharpay shrieks when she sees the callback sheet. It echoes off the walls in the emptiness of the halls before school starts properly.

"Callback for roles, 'Arnold and Minnie' next Thursday 3:30 PM," Ryan says slowly, "Ryan and Sharpay Evans, Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton"  
"Is this some kind of joke?" Sharpay says through gritted teeth, "They didn't even audition!"  
Ryan turns to Sharpay, "Maybe we're being Punk'd."  
"What?"  
"Maybe we're being filmed right now," he says, "Maybe we'll get to meet Ashton!"  
Sharpay makes a frustrated noise, "Oh shut up, Ryan!"

There's laughter, and then the tall wizards walk up behind them. Sharpay is not in the mood.

The curly-hair wizard comes up next to her, "What's wrong?"

Sharpay only glares at the callback sheet. She has nothing to say to the wizard and the callback sheet still makes her _furious_. It has to be a joke, it has to.

Curly-hair wizard's eyes widen, "What?"

He looks at Ryan and something passes between them, but then he looks over to Sharpay being walking away. Sharpay follows his lead, storming away without any pretense of making it theatrical. Ryan trails after her a minute later, trying to soothe her. She will not be soothed until all is right in the world again. Even when they get to the cafeteria, Sharpay doesn't eat. She just paces, completely furious.

"How dare she sign up," Sharpay screeches, "I've already picked out the colors for my dressing room!"  
"And," Ryan adds, "she didn't even ask our permission to join Drama Club."  
Sharpay smacks her hand down flat on the table, "Someone's got to tell her the rules."

* * *

The day, Chad thinks, could not be going any worse at the moment. Troy and the new girl are apparently trying out for the musical and the more magical half of East High is taking this as some sort of threat—which it probably isn't, but talking sense into the Evans twins is kind of like trying to cast a spell when low on magic—it wasn't very effective and it barely had any effect. At least lunch of going fair peacefully.

But then Zeke starts drumming his fingers on the table and Chad groans. He cannot take this right now, he just can't. Zeke still stands up, though, pacing for a couple moments before opening his mouth.

"_You can bet there's nothing but net, when I am in the zone and on a roll. But I got a confession, my own secret obsession, and it's making me loose control_."  
The group sings out as one, "_Everybody gather 'round_."  
"If Troy can tell his secret," Zeke says, "then I can tell mine . . . I bake."  
It's the first time Chad's heard of it and he's known Zeke approximately forever, "_What_?"  
"I . . . I love to bake," Zeke smiles, "strudels, scones, even apple pandowdy!"  
The basketball players shake their heads, "_Not another sound!_"  
"Someday," Zeke sighs, "I hope to make the perfect crème brulee."

The cafeteria explodes into song and dance—people confessing their deepest secrets left and right. Chad doesn't like when the music rears its head at the best of times, and the current situation is so far away from the best of times that they're not even in the same universe. Then, the new girl walks in and Chad knows something horrific is going to happen.

* * *

Gabriella walks into the cafeteria with Taylor and everyone is singing and dancing. It's a little bit weird, but Gabriella has seen some pretty weird things, so she's not that bothered by it. It does make looking for seating a little bit difficult, though.

Sharpay's voice rings out: "EVERYBODY QUIET!"

In the sudden silence, everyone turns to look at her and Taylor. She blinks and then turns to Taylor.

"Why is everyone staring at you?"  
"Not me," Taylor snorts, "they're staring at you."  
"Is this about the callbacks? I really can't have people staring at me, I just can't."

The room explodes into song and dance again and Gabriella weaves through the cafeteria, trying to avoid everyone's looks. Somehow, though, she misses the puddle of milk on the floor and slips in it. Her tray of food goes flying and she hears Sharpay scream. When she scrambles back up, she can see her chili fries all over Sharpay, and she tries to apologize, but Taylor steers her away.

* * *

When Troy walks in, he tries to head straight for Gabriella, but Chad cuts him off.

"You do not want to get involved in that," Chad says, "too much drama."

Sharpay shrieks something about Gabriella and Troy ruining the musical and how the basketball team is clearly behind which, hey! Chad does not appreciate because he's just as surprised as Sharpay is. Troy looks at him with big, blue eyes. Chad tries not to punch him.

"What's up?"  
"What's up?" Chad almost wants to laugh, "Oh, let's see. You missed free period yesterday to audition for some heinous musical and now? Now people are _confessing_."

Zeke starts walking by then and Chad grabs him by the shirt sleeve.

"Zeke? Zeke is baking! Crème brulee!"

Troy, fucking idiot that he is, asks what that is and Zeke starts talking about it and Chad can almost see the joy in his voice. It's annoying and he wants it to stop because it's becoming very hard to remember why he proects Troy instead of just . . . Letting Sharpay suck his soul out through his dick. Really, Chad would be happy if the latter happened at the moment—only he wouldn't later, but it seems like a good idea at the moment.

"Shut _up_, Zeke!"

* * *

"This is a disaster! An outrage! Troy and that Montez girl are going to steal our spotlight _and_ our energy source. How am I supposed to sit back and let this happen? I won't let it happen. It can't happen, Ryan, it just can't! Not doing the musicale would be detrimental to our _livelihood_."

Ryan, for the most part, just nods in the appropriate places. He doesn't really feel the same way, but sometimes it's better to just let Sharpay run herself out of steam than try to get a word in. He's mostly thinking about the look Chad had given him earlier, something between disbelief and distrust. He personally doesn't think that the basketball team knew about Troy's little stunt. In fact, he's pretty sure that everyone was just as confused as Ryan and Sharpay had been.

"Wouldn't it be easier to get to Troy if you were spending more time with him though?"

Sharpay stops pacing for a moment to look at Ryan. He thinks that maybe he's talked some sense into her, but she just tosses her hair over her shoulder and continues pacing.

"It's not as simple as that and you know it, Ryan. Getting to Troy would require his little wizard-friend to disappear, and we all know how likely that is to happen."  
"His name is Chad, you know."

It's the wrong thing to say, because Sharpay walks over to him and stares him in the eye. He's not afraid of her—he knows her too well for that—but he didn't want to give Sharpay more reasons to be furious and that? That was definitely a reason for her to be furious.

"He doesn't deserve to be called by his actually name—he's always been the only thing standing between me and Troy. You know this, Ryan. You know how much we are _not _going to dignify him with a name."  
Ryan shrugs, "You know what they say, Sharpay: know your enemy."  
"Ugh, whatever! That's not the point here. The point is that we have to do something."

Ryan's about to say something to Sharpay, but then he notices that she's not looking at him anymore. She's looking past him to the academic calender for the month. It doesn't seem like there's a reason why until Sharpay's lips curve into a smirk that Ryan knows very well. It's the "I have just had a brilliant idea" smirk that usually does not bode well for anyone.

"Wouldn't it be nice if the callbacks were this Friday instead of Monday?"  
Ryan blinks, "But that's the same day that the Academic Decathlon Scrimmage and the Championship game."  
"I know," Sharpay laughs, "that's the point."

* * *

Chad corners Gabriella on the way to History class and Gabriella is just going to push him away when he grabs her forearm and she freezes. She wants to get away, but she physically can't and her eyes widen in fear as she realizes what Chad has done. Magic isn't anything new to her, her mother is somewhat of a hedgewitch, but she can't recognize magic the way her mother can. She does, however, know when she is being spelled and that is definitely what Chad has done. His eyes are cold, hard, and almost cruel when she looks into them. It's too much to take, so Gabriella looks away, down at the tile floor, instead.

"I don't know what your game is," Chad hisses, "but stay away from Troy. He's already in enough trouble as it is, he doesn't need you complicating everything too."

With that, Chad lets go of her arm and Gabriella can see faints marks where his finers were, pink and irritated skin a different shade than usual. She's not entirely sure what he's talking about, but she's not happy with it, so she froens at Chad for a moment before taking a deep breath and plastering a smile on her face.

"There is no game," Gabriella says sweetly, "I just like Troy. There's no crime in that."  
"You're either playing dumb or you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into and I wasn't born yesterday, people with magic like yours always have an ulterior motive."  
"I don't know what you think you're seeing," Gabriella sighs, "but I'm not magical at all."

She can see the moment that something finally dawns on Chad. He opens his mouth to say something, then abruptly closes it and walks away. Gabriella mentions it to her mom, when she gets home. It's an off-hand comment meant as a funny observation, not meant to start a discussion or anything, but her mom stops what she's doing and turns to face Gabriella. Gabriella frowns, her mother looks scared.

"Sit down," her mother sighs, "I have something to tell you. I probably should have told you this a long time ago, but . . . I didn't want to burden you."

Though she wants to ask questions, Gabriella sits down and waits for her mother to speak again. It takes a moment, her mother takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment before speaking.

"You know how, when you were little, you always used to ask me why you were different and I always told you that it's because you're special, Gabriella?"  
"Of course," Gabriella replies, "you used to say I was the most special thing in the entire world."  
"I wasn't lying," her mom says, "you are the most special thing in the entire world, because you are the very last of your kind."  
Gabriella knitted her brows together, "What do you mean, mama?"  
"You're magical, Gabriella. More magical than I am, even."  
"You're being silly, mama. I'm not magical at all."  
"You are," her mom insists, "you're the very last unicorn there is, Gabriella. There is no one else like you in the entire world."

It's so absurd that Gabriella doesn't want to believe her, but her mother looks so sincere and she trusts her mother. In the back of her mind, though, she's always known that she was a little bit different and being the last unicorn explain so many things that Gabriella has never been able to understand. She bites her lip and searches her mother's face for any sign that this is all some kind of joke. There isn't one.

"I . . . I'm the only unicorn left?"  
"Yes," her mother says, "a wizard sealed you into a girl's body when the unicorns disappeared and made you sleep until the world was ready for unicorns again."  
"That doesn't make any sense! Why hasn't anyone ever realized that I was a unicorn, then?"  
"Because," her mother explains patiently, "you have a spell on you that conceals up your identity. It's only when someone sees you for what you truly are that the spells breaks and the world can see you for who you are. From the sound of it, this Chad boy has figured you out."

There's a long moment where Gabriella can do nothing but sit and stare at her mother. When she finally gains enough sense to speak again, she doesn't want to think about the sudden knowledge that she's a unicorn. Instead, she smiles at her mother.

"Do you need help with dinner?"  
Her mother raises an eyebrow, "You aren't upset?"  
"I am," Gabriella replies truthfully, "but I'd rather be doing something with me hands so I don't freak out right now. Okay, mama?"  
"Okay. You can cut the vegetables."

* * *

"She doesn't know."

It's the first thing Chad says when he gets home, before he even sets down his bag or closes the door, and his mother sticks her out of the kitchen. She looks a little confused.

"Who doesn't know what, honey?"  
"Gabriella," Chad says as he shuts the door, "doesn't know she's magical. How does that even happen? How does someone not know that they're magical?"  
"She doesn't know that she's magical?"  
"No," Chad says, "she doesn't and I don't understand how that even works because don't you just _know_ that you're magical?"

He drops his bag in the entryway and watches his mom disappear back into the kitchen. She hasn't answered his question yet, but she's stirring the pot of whatever it is they're having for dinner and frowning, like she doesn't know what to think about that. He walks in and leans against the kitchen counter and waits for his mother to say something.

His mother finally asks: "Does she have a spell on her?"  
"I don't know,"Chad says, "it doesn't feel like she does, but maybe it's a kind of spell that I don't know how to recognize or something? I don't know."  
"There's a story," his mother muses, "about a wizard sealed the last unicorn into a young girl and then put her to sleep with the intent to have her wake up when the world was ready for unicorns again. It's said that he put a spell on her that conceals her from the world. The only way that it can be broken is by someone seeing her for what she truly is."

His mother tastes the soup in the pot and hums quietly to herself while Chad mulls that over in his head. It sounds like his mother is admitting the possible existence of unicorns, but he doesn't exactly know how someone could cast a spell so that a person didn't know they were magical. Wouldn't Gabriella have memories of being a unicorn? Wouldn't there be some hint of it?

"You're thinking very loudly."  
"Sorry," Chad says with a shake of his head, "I'm just having a hard time understanding how that would work."  
"Don't worry too much about it, Chad. Just don't get too involved with her."

Chad doesn't plan on it.

* * *

It's weird. Troy doesn't look any different, but he feels completely different. The knowledge that he has a callback for the winter musical, though, makes him feel like he should look different. He certainly feels different—like an entirely new person, actually—and it's a weird feeling because he's never changed much. He's always been Troy, the coach's son. Troy, the basketball guy. And yeah, Troy's always been okay with that but . . . He's always felt like maybe he could be something else, too.

He's practicing his jump shot in the court at home when his father comes out and smiles at him, jogging over.

"Hey, Troy! Working on your jumpshot?"  
"Yeah," Troy says absently, "it's just not coming together today, though."  
"Don't give up, champ," his dad says as he slaps Troy on the back, "I know you can do anything you set your mind to."  
". . . Hey dad?"  
"Yeah, Troy?"  
"Do you ever . . . do you ever feel like you can be something else?"  
His dad looks him over, as if trying to determine if Troy is serious. Troy just bounces the ball a couple of times, more out of nervousness than anything.  
"What do you mean? Are you thinking of quitting basketball?"  
"No," Troy shakes his head, "just been thinking about maybe being something other than the basketball guy. Forget it, it's nothing."

Troy shoots, and the ball swishes into the net with ease.

* * *

The thing is . . . The things is that Chad's primary job is to watch Troy and make sure that Troy isn't getting himself into trouble. Gabriella is trouble, so the only thing to do they is make sure that they stay apart. He catches Troy in the library during study hall and sits down next to him.

"This musical thing is a bad idea," Chad says without preamble, "seriously."  
"Why? I think it could be fun," Troy shrugs, "a chance to try something new, you know?"  
"No," Chad shakes his head, "it won't be fun. Do you know why this musical thing is a bad idea? Because okay, if you're awesome at sports, then you get put on Wheaties. You with me so far?"

Troy nods, although he looks a little confused. Chad's learned that Troy always looks a little confused, though, so he just continues.

"Look, you're a hoops dude. Not a musical singer person. You ever seen Michael Crawford on a cereal box?"  
Troy looks at him like a deer in headlights, "Who?"  
"Exactly my point," Chad sighs, "He was in_ The Phantom of the Opera _on Broadway. Now my mom? She's seen that musical 27 times, and she put Michael Crawford's picture in our refrigerator. Not on it. _In_ it. So my point is, if you play basketball, you'll end up on a cereal box. If you sing in musicals, you'll end up in my mom's refrigerator. "

There's a long pause where Chad thinks that maybe, just maybe, he's gotten through that thick wall Troy calls a head, but no.  
"Why would she put his picture in your refrigerator?"  
"I don't know," Chad whisper-yells, "one of her crazy diet ideas. Look, I don't attempt to understand the female mind, Troy."

The librarian, who's been looking in their direction and frowning ever since the conversation started, shushes him. Chad just rolls his eyes.

"Think of it this way," Chad tries, "How can you expect the rest of us to be focused on a game when you're off somewhere in leotards singing Twinkle Town—"  
Troy gives Chad an absolutely horrified look, "No one said _anything _about leotards."  
"Just you wait."

The horrified expression hasn't left Troy's face, and Chad feels a slight amount of accomplishment at that. The librarian, though, looks really annoyed with him. Chad shrugs.

"I tried to tell him," he tells her, "I really did."

* * *

Chad catches Taylor in the hall, grabbing her arm to get her to stop. She raises an eyebrow, as if daring him to say something, and Chad almost freezes her in place but them he remembers that Taylor isn't any kind of magic and just sighs.

"We need to talk."  
"About what?" Taylor says, skepticism heavy in her voice, "we've never talked before."  
"Because," Chad explains, "the school is falling apart around us and the best way to fix it is by breaking up Troy and Gabriella. Basketball team gets their captain back, Academic Decathlon gets their genius. Everything goes back to normal."

There's a long silence—or maybe it's a short one that only feels long—where Taylor just looks Chad over and her brow creases in thought. It's sort of cute, actually, but Chad doesn't let that train of thought get very far. It's best not to fraternize with non-magical beings.

"Okay," Taylor finally replies, "what's the plan?"

* * *

"But Mrs. Darbus," Sharpay screeches, "that jock and the new girl are trying to ruin our musical! They don't know what they're doing and they're just going to make a mess of it, can't you see? By giving them a callback you're lowering the standard of our drama club and—"  
"Miss Evans," Darbus says sharply, "I am not going to reschedule callbacks because you wish to exclude people, but if you are telling me that rescheduling them is in the best interests of the drama club, I will consider."

That's pretty much the end of the conversation, but Sharpay smirks because she knows Darbus will do it. Darbus doesn't want jocks in the musical any more than Sharpay does, but she has to maintain an air of professionalism about her.

* * *

Gabriella watches Troy trash her and claim loyalty to his team. She's aware, vaguely, of the Academic Decathlon members surrounding her, but most of her attention is focused on the screen in front of her that shows Troy on a hidden camera. She feels a little sick, honestly, like something within her is dying at the sight of Troy betraying her like this. His teammates are cheering and leading him outside and Gabriella stumbles away, out into the empty hallway. The Academic Decathlon must have left for the pep rally and Gabriella is alone. She leans against the counter and looks outside, to where the pep rally is going on. Troy seems happy, surrounded by all of his teammates. His friends.

"_It's funny when you find yourself_," Gabriella sings, "_looking from the outside. I'm standing here but all I want is to be over there—why did I let myself believe miracles could happen? 'cause now I have to pretend that I don't really care_."

She's only singing so she doesn't start crying, which would be even more embarrassing. The hallways are empty because of the pep rally, and Gabriella just lets the music flow through her. It's soothing, knowing that the music knows exactly what she's feeling and translates that for her, lets her relax into it.

* * *

Kelsi is not amused. For one, Sharpay and Ryan are hatching another of their devious and selfish plans, for two, Gabriella and Troy have apparently decided not to do the musical, even though Kelsi can tell they both want to, and for three? Both Gabriella and Troy are miserable people and none of their friends seem to be noticing how they're moping. Kelsi would just fix it herself with a little magic, but she's not allowed to use magic on humans and Troy is definitely a human—which rules out most love potions, because they need to be applied to both parties involved.

Instead, she walks up to Chad, shedding her meek pianist act in favor of her more regal and commanding faerie posture. Chad pales a little at seeing that and she smirks inwardly, because Chad of all people understands that Kelsi can be regal when she chooses to be. She just never really has a reason to.

"Danforth," Kelsi smiles, "please tell me you're going to fix the mess you've created. You job is to protect Troy, not make him miserable."  
"Gabriella is a—"  
"Gabriella," Kelsi sighs, "is powerful, but pure of heart. Really, Danforth, I'd expect you of all people to recognize that. The only person more pure of heart in this area is Troy."  
Chad hesitates before sighing, "I was just following orders, but my primary objective should take precedence over all other orders. Do you have a plan?"

There's a pause while Kelsi thinks if she should just tell him what to do, but decides against it. She shakes her head and gives Chad a smile. Let the wizard figure out how to solve his own problems—it's none of Kelsi's business.

* * *

Chad catches Taylor in the hall again, grabbing her arm to stop her like before. She doesn't seem as surprised this time, which he counts as a win because he's about to do something seriously dickish.

"Can I talk to you?"  
"Sure," Taylor says, still a little wary, "what about?"  
Chad sighs, "You how I said that the school was falling apart around us and the only way to fix it was by breaking up Troy and Gabriella? Yeah. It's come to my attention that I was wrong and also I'm an idiot."  
Taylor laughs, "Kelsi talked to you too?"  
"Yup," Chad grins, "she showed me the error of my ways."  
Taylor smiles at him then, and Chad think that maybe she should do that more often because she's pretty when she smiles.  
"Do we have a plan?"

* * *

The plan is that they don't have a plan and it basically amounts to them apologizing profusely and saying that they're terrible people and hope that Gabriella and Troy aren't too mad at them. Of course, they're Gabriella and Troy so that's not really a problem. Troy's upset for a little while, but then he realizes that what they've basically told him is that he can be with Gabriella and then he's happy again. Really, Troy is a pretty easy person to please. Gabriella is too, apparently, because she's kind of upset that Taylor would do something like that, but she gets over it quickly.

Troy is happier with Gabriella than Chad has ever seen him and he's a little bit jealous of that, but he pushes the thought out of his mind and tries to be happy for Troy and hope that his mom isn't mad at him for ignoring her. It's just . . . Chad's never been good at seeing Troy sad and it's doubly hard to deal with when he's the one who caused it. Troy being in the musical and being in love with Gabriella won't make him vulnerable in ways that he isn't already and Chad was foolish for thinking so.

* * *

Kelsi frowns at the callback sheet in front of her. Sharpay and Ryan apparently succeeded in getting the callbacks moved to the same day as the basketball . . . whatever it was called and the Academic Decathlon scrimmage. Some days, Kelsi wonders why humans get so worked up over things like that. The only human invention she's become fond of is the piano.

There's a sudden presence at her side—from the energy, Kelsi knows it's Chad—and everyone is laughing until Chad notices her frown. He frowns too.

"What's wrong?"

Kelsi doesn't say anything, she just points to the callback sheet and walks off. The problem is really out of her hands now—she's interfered enough as it is.

* * *

Everyone seems really disheartened by the fact that callbacks are at the same time as the scrimmage and the championship game. Gabriella gets that, she really does, but they need to pull it together and come up with a plan. She's not giving this up because of a tiny setback like scheduling. Besides, it's probably some kind of test that Darbus is giving to see how determined Troy and Gabriella are. Gabriella is determined—_really_ determined. She wants to do this and she thinks she can do it well.

So she clears her throat and smiles are everyone.

"It's just a minor setback, guys. We can still make this work!"  
The curly-haired basketball player—Gabriella thinks his name is Chad—raises an eyebrow, "Really? How?"  
"I sort of have a plan," Gabriella says sheepishly, "but I'm going to need everyone's help to pull it off."

The basketball team all glance at each other, as if trying to decide whether to listen to her or not. The Academic Decathlon is doing the same. Finally, Troy and Taylor nod at each other.

"We're listening, Gabriella," Troy says, "what's your plan?"

* * *

The plan is pretty simple at first glance, but it's taking a lot of effort to pull off. The basketball team needs to act like it's a surprise when the scoreboard starts malfunctioning and then somehow get everyone into the auditorium. Taylor needs to set the scoreboard and the heating element off at the same time—not too early, or they risk someone passing out from the gas the concoction will create and that's not what they want.

It's possible that there's a tiny bit of magic involved to make everything go smoothly, but the point is that it goes smoothly. Everyone is evacuated and then they're in the auditorium, Kelsi rushing back in to say she'll play piano for them—which was unplanned, but awesome all the same and they're standing in front of parents and students and teachers and Gabriella opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. She has the overwhelming feeling of fear in the pit of her stomach and she squeezes her eyes shut.

"Hey," Troy says from right next to her, "hey, don't worry. Just look at me and pretend we're on the stage at New Year's. Remember?"

The words are something Gabriella can hold onto, and she lets her eyes flutter open—her field of vision is filled with Troy, and she's calm. The fear in her stomach has dissipated and she smiles at him. In the distance, Gabriella can hear Kelsi's piano. She takes a deep breath and nods.

Troy smiles back at her, not breaking eye contact, "_We're soarin', flyin'—there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach._"  
Gabriella keeps lookng at him, feeling herself loosen up, "_If we're trying, so we're breaking free._"

As she sings, Gabriella can feel the fear breaking down and setting her free. She gets more and more bold as the song goes on, until she's twirling and pandering to the audience. When the song ends and the audience starts applauding, Gabriella only grins at Troy and lets the electricity under her skin—magic, she guesses—run through her. She feels like she can do anything, like she's ready to take on the world, and her smile doesn't fade as she goes back to the scrimmage and helps her classmates win their first Academic Decathlon trophy in several years.

* * *

When they win, Gabriella runs over to the gym and straight into Troy's arms. She's all smiles and it's funny, because she doesn't even mind that he's sweaty and kind of gross.

"We won," she yells into his ear over the cheers, "what about you?"  
"Same," he yells back, "congrats!"

Around them, everyone is celebrating and Troy's hugging her close and Gabriella has never felt more happy and at home in her entire life. She looks at Troy and before she quite realizes what's she's saying, she's blurting out words.

"I have to tell you something, Troy. I'm a unicorn."

Troy stares at her for several long moments and Gabriella is afraid that he'll hate her, not love her anymore, and she starts to break away from him when he just smiles, bright and wide, and hugs her closer.

"Naw," he says into her ear, "you're just Gabriella."

Under her skin, Gabriella can feel the magic inside her coming to life and she hugs Troy back—tightly and fiercely—because she never wants to let him go.

* * *

**Postit-Notes:** Oh god it's done. I AM SO HAPPY IT'S DONE.


End file.
